Tom Barry on Border Immigrant Detention Facilities
Tom Barry, a senior analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for International Policy, spent the last year-and-a-half visiting immigrant detention facilities in small towns along the border in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. His story in the November/December issue of the Boston Review (reprinted with permission below) chronicles what he found: poor conditions, little to no oversight or accountability and none of the financial largesse that private prison corporations promised to the border outposts where the facilities are. Read Barry's story below, and listen to him talk with The Texas Tribune about his experiences.
— Brandi Grissom ...
Comments (3)
Cowboy
Barry is right in his recounting of the sleazy operations of the fast talkers that have convinced so many municipalities to buy their scams.
Hardin has been empty over two and a half years after completion. That's a long way from the Corplan/Municipal Capital Markets record, however. In Pioche, Nevada they built a spec prison for $5.5 million in 1993 which remained empty until it was sold to the county for $500,000, seven cents on the original dollar controlling for inflation.
Neither should have been built as there were no employees available to fill them. In fact, the promoters, who took off with millions from Hardin's misfortune, built despite the extremely questionability of the project. They tried exactly the same hustle in Lindsay, Oklahoma, in 2007-08.
RIght now they're trying to build in Montgomery County, Texas, and have probably taken care of enough local officials to succeed. They just finished a ripoff of McClennan county.
The partners have contributed a great deal of money to the campaign of the Texas Attorney General, so we'll probably never see a prosecution in this state.
Cowboy
I'd omitted the word "legality" when referring the the questionable aspects of the Hardin and Lindsay Corplan projects. Neither appeared to be legal and only after years of wrangling did Hardin get the right to hold prisoners, but the third-rate design of the jail made it unusable.
Bogus economic feasibility studies made this all possible.
In Willacy county, two county commissioners pled guilty to corruption charges after taking bribes from an out of county commissioner who was a Corplan employee. The Gonzales "Justice" Department shut down the prosecution of the bigger culprits, however.
goliathbnr
Anything that discourages illegal immigration should be supported. Detention facilities suck and prisons suck, so stop coming into this country illegally and if you come here legally, don't do anything illegal- its that simple. And don't anybody retort with "they're racially profiled!" I grew up in Williamson County listening to punk rock and wearing ridiculous clothes; you think I haven't ever been profiled?? want to know what i did about it? I stopped wearing ridiculous clothes and made sure that i didnt do anything illegal. My parents called it growing up and being a responsible citizen.
Have the Mexican people no shame? Illegal immigration is modern day slavery and benefits only a few and those few are definitely NOT average Americans or Mexicans. Mexicans come here and are treated like dirt and they seem to be ok with it and want more of it. They aren't any more willing to do crappy jobs than any other person; they are simply willing to do it for less. Show some pride for Christ's sake. Many cultures have suffered under inept governments, a vast majority of those peoples rose up and did something about it. Why do you think this country is the best in the world? is it cuz we constantly run away from our problems to someone else's country and demand handouts?!?!?!? NO!!!